Birthday Fun!

     This last weekend I flew down to Phoenix all by myself without children.  Honestly I can't remember the last time I've been anywhere without Daryl or one of the girls with me.  I loved every second of it. On the plane I finally finished the book I started around Christmas time.  At any rate, I went for my sister DeAnna's birthday.  My sister Nellie and my cousin Kim flew in as well, so it was super exciting. You will notice that I forgot to take a picture before Nellie had to leave, but I'm pretty sure that's how she would have wanted it.  She's six months pregnant and not big on a pictures.   I loved seeing my sisters, cousin, brother-in-law, and my niece, Addison.  I also got to meet my newest dog niece, Lady.  She is perhaps the laziest dog known to man.  I saw her walk fast once and never heard her bark.  Truly a perfect dog for Brad and DeAnna.

Lady suffering through Addison love.

I've never seen a dog just plop themselves down on the ground like this.

Lady at her most animated.

DeAnna, my cousin Kim, me, Addison, Alex, and Corona

Mom and Dad Start their Mission

       After spending two weeks in the Missionary Training Center, my parents flew down to Chile yesterday on a very uneventful Friday the thirteenth.  They were actually set apart while in Utah because their stake president was going to be there for General Conference anyway.  They are excited to be starting their mission; although they are now going right back into winter since the southern hemisphere's seasons are flip flopped with ours.  Another great thing is since they are serving in the temple they are living in some Church owned western style apartments with western style plumbing.  That means they can flush the toilet paper down the toilet.  Imagine that.  We are excited for my parents, and we are sure that their mission will go by in a flash.

Mom and Dad with President and Sister Miles when they were set apart.

Mom and Dad in front of the MTC.  The MTC sign is gone now.

Dropping Mom and Dad off at the MTC.

Mom and Dad at the airport ready for the very long day of flying to Chile on Friday the 13th.

A Case of the Crazies

   Yesterday I decided to take advantage of the good weather and take the kids to the zoo by myself.  The trip actually wasn't that bad.  We were able to stay there for three hours with the help of juice and popcorn. Naturally Avery was most excited about the crows and the ducks.  She especially loved going in any of the double doors were you're supposed to be extra careful not to let out any wildlife. That was a special treat trying to push the stroller through two sets of doors on the way in and out.  All in all it was a good trip for everyone though.

Avery pointing at a lemur.

Harper was actually trying to talk to the gorillas. It was pretty cute.

Avery picked out her outfit all on her own that day.

Nope she's not excited about flamingos, she's excited about the ducks that are hanging out with them.

Avery decided she needed to ride the hippo.

Harper looking at nothing but water.

Easter Weekend

   We had a great Easter weekend.  On Saturday Aimee, Karl, and Tyler came over for lunch and an Easter egg hunt. Tyler was very excited for our little Easter egg hunt.  Tyler and Avery are Easter egg hunting pros, and Harper  was able to do a little bit of egg hunting on her own after Daryl showed her the ropes.  

   On Sunday Adam and Angie came over for dinner, and I didn't take many pictures.  Avery was very excited to seem Adam as always because he swings her all around.

Harper with the sheep that she got from her aunt Aimee.

Avery is really into helping me cook lately, and was very excited to help make lunch on Saturday with Aimee.

Harper putting her eggs all in one basket.

Look Mom I found an egg!

Tyler showing me the Avery egg.  

Avery going to town on her chocolate bunny.

Tyler would open the eggs, and then Harper would stuff everything into her mouth.  They made an awesome team.

Harper being silly.

Harper making important phone calls in her Easter dress.

Avery sorting eggs in her Easter dress.

The Virtual Tour: Main Floor

         By popular demand I am finally putting pictures up of the house.  Well at least the main floor, but don't worry the rest of the house isn't too far behind.

Avery and Harper enjoying one of the few pieces of furniture we bought for the house:  their own tiny table.  Harper loves the table and chairs especially, but is too scared to get off the tiny, tiny chair on her own.  Neither of us are worried about her trying to climb out of her crib.

The main floor definitely has the great room feel.  Our family room and dining room are all one big space.  The girls absolutely love all the space to roam around in compared to our last home.  In case you haven't figured out the couch and recliner are not in their forever homes yet.  I'm still trying to figure out how to configure the room.

Another view of the family room from the kitchen.  You can see the  television, and the awesome console we bought.  The t.v.  is going to be hung up on the wall one of these days.  Also that giant looking door is called a Nana door, and slides up like an accordion to unite the family room with the deck.  It's very nice on our occasional warms days.

Here's a closer look at our dining room area.  

This is the kitchen.  

Here's my kitchen in all its messy glory.  I'm working on clearing off the counters. The island is a great work space though, and I have made dinner four nights in a row.  Not too shabby.  You can also see my Kitchen Aid dishwasher, and it's a real toss up between it and the range for favorite new appliance.  The dishwasher with the help of rinse aid actually dries off all those million sippy cup parts.  I am in heaven.

What can I say?  Cooking on gas is much superior to electric.  I'm not used to having my burners ready to go so quickly. The metal thing below the range hood is the pot filler, so now I don't have to carry heavy pots of water across the kitchen.

I don't do dishes by hand, so all I wanted was one giant basin to soak big casserole dishes in.  I love it. 

A nice big fridge.  We didn't get the see through door because we thought we would artfully arrange bottles of  Perrier and our fine cheese collection, it was just cheaper than the model with a solid stainless steel door.

Here's the powder room for guests to use.

Down this hall is the girls' bathroom, their bedroom, and the guest room.

                       

Here's the girls' bathroom.  It's divided up in to two areas.  Sinks on one side and the toilet and tub on the other side.  You can see the toilet peeking out there.  

Here's the guest room.  Yes it does look like a play room.  For some reason the girls love to play in here, and we let them. I would rather have toys strewn all over here than in the family room.

Here's the girls' room.  They basically sleep in here, and that's about it.  They are on a different floor from us, but we have no trouble hearing them in the morning.  Besides when Avery first wakes up in the morning her first destination is Mom and Dad's room while Harper cries, abandoned, standing up in her crib wondering why her roommate has left her once again.

Here's our front door.  It's not much of an entry way, but it works.  The stairs leading up and down are right off to the side with the hall closet on the other side.

Here, I'll show the hall closet.  It's plenty big, yea!

Catching Up on the Blog

     I've done a bunch of blogging tonight. Sorry that I haven't put up pictures of the house yet.  I'm getting there.  The house is slowly coming together, and we are trying to settle into a new routine. In the meantime enjoy some pictures of the sunset from our deck tonight.  I even remembered to use the distance lens!

Five Years

  Yesterday was our five year anniversary.  We actually celebrated last week though while my parents were still around by going down to Portland where we stayed at the Heathman Hotel.  While there we went to the temple, ate lots of good food, and went shopping tax free.  We've always wanted to stay at the Heathman partly because it is reputedly haunted; we both love a good ghost story.  Mostly though because it's a cool old hotel in downtown with doormen dressed as Beef eaters. We ate at a Peruvian restaurant called Andina and became fans of ceviche.   It was an excellent time.  In case you're wondering we stayed in the reportedly most haunted room,703, and the ghost must have been on vacation because we slept like babies.

The night we went to the temple it was snowing.  It was quite beautiful.

Daryl arranged for flowers to be waiting for me in the room.

On the beside table they left us a variety of teas as well as earplugs and an eye mask for our sleeping comfort.